I'm relatively new to these forums, and I had a question that's been nagging at my brain lately, and I have been so far unable to find anything useful on other forums or websites.

Cosplay Photographs.

I browse through ACP and I see some spectacular photography going on. I'm curious - how do you get those amazing photos?

I'm not talking about how to take pictures, but how to actually get the copies of them, and be able to post them on profiles, or your own websites. What is the proper etiquette between cosplay photographers and cosplayers? Or at least the general rules to this?

I'm just looking for some guidelines on what happens in the cosplay community, as the only way I've been able to really get any decent pictures is setting up the photo myself with a tripod and a timer, or handing it to a friend who may or may not know much about taking pictures at all and hoping for the best.

If you're looking to photograph someone, the biggest "no-go" that you can do would be to just straight up take a picture of someone without asking. People who go out and cosplay LOVE the attention (as long as it's not overwhelming) and 9/10 tries, they will say yes. Of course you have those people who aren't friendly no matter what you say.

If you're taking a picture of yourself, try to get a friend involved. Timers work too, but having someone who knows how to work the lens and frame each shot will save you countless hours in Photoshop retouching up those photos. Plus, Photoshop can't save a shot if you have bad lighting, improper focus, or terrible framing.

Biggest tip, take 10-50 photos of yourself if you're doing it alone. Most of those shots will be garbage because your facial expression won't be locked in - but one or two will show up and have the proper lighting, best framing, and awesome facial expression and you'll be throwing those up online in no time.